In the last two to three decades, hill-State Uttarakhand in the Himalayan region has seen several natural disasters. However, in June 2013, the disaster-prone area witnessed one of its worst natural disasters in the form of torrential rains and resultant flashfloods, claiming the lives of thousands of people and animals while not-so-quietly altering its landscape. The flashfloods also wiped out settlements and decimated livelihoods. The National Institute of Disaster Management, in one of its first reports in 2015 blamed “climatic conditions combined with haphazard human intervention” for the disaster. Environmentalists point out that adequate steps haven’t been taken to prevent or handle such disasters, including the recurrent Brahmaputra floods that have decimated several regions, especially Assam, over many years now.
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